Clock Again Fails To Tick Game Officials, Volunteers Give Support On, Off Field

June 23, 1985|By Bill Buchalter of The Sentinel Staff

The irony could not be overlooked. In December's Florida Citrus Bowl Football game, matching Florida State and Georgia, the clock at Orlando Stadium didn't work in the second half.

And Saturday night at Orlando Stadium, the clock did not work for the Florida-Georgia High School All-Star game.

Florida Citrus Bowl officials, sponsors of both games, were embarrassed.

''I tried to tell them City of Orlando officials after the Citrus Bowl game, they needed to buy another clock if they wanted to run a first-class operation,'' said Chuck Rohe, executive director of the association. ''I even got a proposal for them to get a brand-new piece of expensive equipment. It's embarrassing to our association and to the city for this to happen over and over again.''

Everything on the clock worked except the time, which was kept on the field by George Heisey, the clock operator, who is a teacher at Apopka High School. The game officials, all from the Georgia Football Officials Association (GFOA) in Atlanta included a couple of computer people and a CPA.

Referee Steve Landis, from Marietta is a data center manager. Umpire Ron Goins, from Roswell, is an architectural inspector. Head linesman Joe Brakebill, also from Marietta, is an insurance executive. Line judge Mike Samples, from Kennesaw, is an estimator/welding contractor. Back judge Dan Post, from Tyrone, is a CPA. Field judge Tom Cogburn, from Atlanta, is a software sales manager. GFOA-Atlanta is the oldest officials association in Georgia and adopted the GFOA when it was the only one in the state.

Volunteer doctors worked both team's sidelines. On the Florida side was Doug Henderson, an orthopedic surgeon from Tallahassee. On the Georgia side was Norton Baker, a surgeon from Orlando, assisted by Terry Schwab, also of Orlando.

Cheerleaders for the Georgia-Florida all-star game were provided by Orlando Colonial High School. The idea of providing cheerleaders didn't come up until this week. Frantic phone calls by Ann Martinus of the Florida Citrus Sports Association got the ball rolling. The Colonial girls split their squad with one working the Florida sideline, the other Georgia's sideline.